Australia, July 28 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 27:

1. This appeal was brought from the decision of the Tribunal on 23 September 2024 to appoint a strata managing agent to Strata Plan No 98770 pursuant to s 237 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) (SSMA).

2. Section 237 of the SSMA relevantly provides:

237 Orders for appointment of strata managing agent

(1) Order appointing or requiring the appointment of strata managing agent to exercise functions of owners corporation The Tribunal may, on its own motion or on application, make an order appointing a person as a strata managing agent or requiring an owners corporation to appoint a person as a strata managing agent-

(a) to exercise all the functions of an owners corporation, or

(b) to exercise specified functions of an owners corporation, or

(c) to exercise all the functions other than specified functions of an owners corporation.

(2) Order may confer other functions on strata managing agent The Tribunal may also, when making an order under this section, order that the strata managing agent is to have and may exercise-

(a) all the functions of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee of the owners corporation, or

(b) specified functions of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee of the owners corporation, or

(c) all the functions of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee of the owners corporation other than specified functions.

(3) Circumstances in which order may be made The Tribunal may make an order only if satisfied that-

(a) the management of a strata scheme the subject of an application for an order under this Act or an appeal to the Tribunal is not functioning or is not functioning satisfactorily, or

(b) an owners corporation has failed to comply with a requirement imposed on the owners corporation by an order made under this Act, or

(c) an owners corporation has failed to perform one or more of its duties, or

(d) an owners corporation owes a judgment debt.

....

Background

3. The appellant (Neda Hakemi) and the first respondent (Peter Gray) are the owners of lots 1 and 2 respectively in Strata Plan 98770. There are only two lots in the strata plan. The unit entitlement of Lot 1 is 55, the unit entitlement of Lot 2 is 45.

4. A previous appointment by the Tribunal of a strata managing agent pursuant to s 237 of the SSMA was terminated on 7 March 2024 by order of the Tribunal, made with the consent of the parties.

5. On 9 March 2024 the first respondent filed an application in the Tribunal seeking both an interim order and a substantive order for the appointment of a strata managing agent pursuant to s 237 of the SSMA. The application named only the appellant as respondent to the application.

6. On 20 March 2024 My StrataCare was appointed strata managing agent by the lot owners.

7. An extraordinary general meeting of the owners corporation was held on 28 May 2024.

8. On 31 May 2024 the first respondent's application for interim orders was listed before the Tribunal. The application for an interim order was dismissed and directions were made for the first respondent (Mr Gray) to file any further documents on which he relied by 14 June 2024 and for the appellant (Ms Hakemi) to file any documents on which she relied by 28 June 2024. Documents in reply were to be filed by 5 July 2024. The owners corporation of Strata Plan No 98770 was joined as second respondent to the application.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197a980dd667efcf4593c0ce)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.